I think that everyone reading this is probably aware that the United States has been dealing with an obesity epidemic for some time now. Well, joining the ranks of the worlds fattest country is, well, the rest of the world. According to a report published last month and just reported on in the NYTimes this morning, more and more people worldwide are leading increasingly sedentary lifestyles. What this essentially boils down to is that the world's population is slowly becoming more and more unhealthy. I found some of the statistics both fascinating and quite disturbing at the same time as I live in the United States. It is projected that the approximate weight of all human beings now exceeds 287 million tons. Now comes the fascinating part. Of that 287 million tons of human flesh, the United States claims a third of it with only 6% of the world's population. Both fascinating and disturbing. According to the report, we are not quite at the top of the list of most sedentary nations, but we are real damn close. So it seems that not only is the world's population continuing to grow, but we are also getting fatter, putting more of a strain on economies world wide. How could an increasingly obese world put strain on our economies? Fairly simple, the heavier people get, the more health problems they are susceptible to and as a result, the more medical assistance they need. With more and more people needing more frequent visits to doctors and hospitals, someone has to take that burden and often times it is distributed amongst the masses.
Perhaps most eye opening about this report is the amount of deaths associated with weight related issues such as diabetes, heart failure, stroke, etc. Currently, about 5.3 million people die each year from diseases tied to physical inactivity compared to the 5.1 million people who die from smoking related issues. People are essentially just sitting around more and letting their health go down the tubes. How many people in the world are almost completely sedentary? According the article, about 1.5 billion people can't manage to fit in 20 minutes of walking a day, the benchmark for a sedentary lifestyle. That equates to 31.1% of the world's adults. I don't know about anyone else, but I would go absolutely bonkers if I sat around all day doing nothing. All in all, the data shows that the wealthier a nation is, the more likely they are to have a population that leads a sedentary lifestyle. I guess being wealthy doesn't necessarily equate to being healthy. In the end, this leaves us with a problem as I mentioned above. With more and more people becoming more and more unhealthy, how are countries supposed to shoulder the weight of dealing with their medical issues. As if we didn't have enough economic troubles to deal with, now we have to deal with the added burden of assisting those who can't figure out how to walk around the block and shed some pounds. Personally, and I have mentioned this before, if people are obese, they should be taxed. I know that there is the inherent problem of people choosing to live this lifestyle and as such, they shouldn't be penalized for their choices, but what about the rest of us whose insurance premiums go up because more people need medical help? For those of us who lead a healthy lifestyle, get the proper amount of exercise and rarely see the doctor, why should we end up paying more in insurance for someone else? There is a certain unfairness in my mind to the whole equation. Yet what are we to do? If we let people become heavier and heavier, we will all suffer economically. Yet if we tax them or force them to pay their own way, they will complain that it isn't fair to them.
All this leaves us with the issue of finding out if we ourselves are overweight and how we should address it. You can use the BMI calculator that can be found anywhere on the web these days. Or I guess you could go to the doctor and have them tell you if you need to lose weight or not. (If you follow this link, you can find out your BMI and see how it compares to the rest of the world, BMI Comparison) I for one don't find the BMI calculator to be completely accurate as it does not take into account all variables. All that it uses to figure out your Body Mass Index is your age, height, and weight. When I plug in my numbers, it tells me I am overweight (BMI of 26). I am supposed to weight between 190 and 195 lbs, yet I come in at a balmy 205. For those of you that know me personally, I don't think anyone would say I am overweight as I am super active and probably have a higher percentage of muscle that weighs more than fat does. But anyway, this isn't about me, but about the world and what we can do. The bottom line is, we need to exercise more and eat healthier. Yes, fast food is much easier and cheaper, but it will be the downfall of humanity if we progress on our current course. On the flip side, maybe this is nature's way of weeding out the excess slowly but surely and leaving us with a healthier world. (I know, that isn't exactly the brightest thought, but hey, maybe Darwin was right). Anyway, I am off now to start my super active day as a contractor and probably shed some pounds in the humidity. Lets all make a pledge to get more exercise, it will do nothing but good for all of us.
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